The Chanukah Carnival was held at West Crockett Street and Queen Anne Avenue North.

Kids and adults lined up for their LED menorah and dreidel necklaces.

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Chabad of Queen Anne-Magnolia held its fourth annual Chanukah Carnival, which culminated with the lighting of the menorah, on Sunday, Dec. 2. The carnival was held in the same space as the Queen Anne Farmers Market, and included free jelly donuts, latkes, a children’s craft station, cotton candy and a juggling dreidel. The night concluded with an LED light show

Rabbi Shnai Levitin shared with attendees the story of Chanukah: how the Maccabees took back their temple in Jerusalem from King Antiochus Epiphanes.

“They did not destroy the temple, however, they did defile the temple, and they did not allow the Jews to practice our religion,” Levitin said of the king’s men. “A small group of brave Jewish warriors, called Maccabees, rose up and kicked the Greeks out.”

For each of the eight nights of Chanukah, Jewish families light a candle on the menorah, which signifies the eight days a small amount of oil burned inside the temple.

“They only found enough oil — sanctified oil with the seal of the high priest — to last one night,” Levitin said, “and God made a miracle, and that one small jug of oil lasted for eight nights.”

The rabbi, who later lit the first candle of the large menorah at West Crockett Street and Queen Anne Avenue North, said tradition is to do the lighting in public. The lesson is that “the smallest amount of light pushes away an enormous amount of darkness.”

While the number of candles lit signifies eight days, there is also a lesson in the task, Levitin said.

“When you’re adding in light, it’s not enough to say, ‘I did it once, and that’s enough,’” he said. “You must constantly be looking to strive to add — add more — add more good light, one more good deed, another good deed, another good deed, until you persevere and get where you need to be, both on a personal level and on a societal level.”

The large menorah will remain outside in Queen Anne, and a new light will be added every night until the end of Chanukah.